December 22, 2024
Novak Djokovic, who won the Western & Southern Open in 2018 and in 2020 (when it was held in New York), won a 6-4 opening set against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina before the Spaniard retired in the first game of the second set.
Davidovich Fokina left the court for a medical timeout late in the first set to deal with a back problem, then retired early in the second due to the injury with 46 minutes on the match clock.
“I hope Alejandro bounces back to the court quickly, recovers from his lower back injury, that’s what he told me at the net,” Djokovic said post-match.
“It’s never the way you like to win, I think for the crowd as well. Coming in, they expect to see a battle, they expect to see a match. Of course it’s great for me to be able to come back to the court and win a match. Obviously mixed emotions with the way it finished. Nevertheless, I’m hoping that I can build my form day to day and progress through the tournament with raising the level.”
The Wimbledon finalist will next meet Gael Monfils in the round of 16 on Thursday.
Swiss wild card Stan Wawrinka dominated upset 10th-seeded American Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4 in one hour, 18 minutes to reach the round of 16.
The win also moved the Swiss up four places into the Top 50 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings at No. 47. He will enter the Top 40 with a victory against Max Purcell on Thursday.
A top five debut for Holger Rune ended in disappointment as the world no.5 had to retired from his round of 32 clash with Mackenzie McDonald after trailing 4-6, 0-2.
Rune was seeking his first win since he reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals, following an opening-round defeat to Marcos Giron last week in Toronto.
With the retirement, McDonald picked up his fourth Top 10 win of 2023 (4-2) and the fifth of his career. He defeated sixth seed Andrey Rublev last week in Toronto en route to his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.
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